


You're Not In Danger, Don't Fuss

by RayneSummer



Series: Round Table Knights + Merlin [7]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Episode: s05e04 Another's Sorrow, Gen, Gwaine Knows or at least suspects, gwaine pov, slight AU, the others were there but they've left as per the episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 08:00:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25347367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayneSummer/pseuds/RayneSummer
Summary: Very slight AU of 5.04.Gwaine and Gaius just talk a little more while Merlin is out of commission. Or at least, Gwaine does.
Relationships: Gaius & Merlin (Merlin), Gwaine & Merlin (Merlin)
Series: Round Table Knights + Merlin [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1813621
Comments: 1
Kudos: 100





	You're Not In Danger, Don't Fuss

**Author's Note:**

> the title doesn't really fit but I was listening to Undertale musicals before writing this and I love that line and I couldn't think of anything else for this dumb little thing.  
> Okay so I don't actually like AUs most of the time but this occurred to me (for no reason bc I was writing out Dungeon Quest rules and listening to Undertale the Musical so ??) and I had to write it. idk but I love Gwaine and Merlin and also Gaius and I think they should be a little family  
> Lancelot would be there too ofc but he had to go and die so. rip him.

Gwaine wasn't stupid.

He had spent a fair amount of time around Merlin at this point, and a good amount of time around the knights and others in the castle where he now lived. And he was observant, despite what some might say. He saw things, he realised things, and he usually kept his damn mouth shut because certain things were those people's business and not his.

Things like being around Merlin and witnessing random tree branches falling.

Those sort of things.

And at this point, even Arthur, who was frankly infamous for completely ignoring or making fun of his manservant's quote unquote 'feelings', had to have come to some sort of conclusion that the boy was often right. Something did usually happen, and those suspects were usually traitors or plotters or just general rubbish.

Anyway, the point was, Merlin was clearly special. And since Merlin was Gwaine's friend, and a good one at that, the knight kept anything concerning such things to himself.

Unlike some people.

(Like Leon, who had confided in all the knights during one practise recently that he'd encountered Merlin and Arthur in the castle hallways one night and all they had to say for themselves was 'Poetry'. Gwaine had almost cried with laughter at the fellow knight's I'm-Sir-Leon-And-I-Take-Everything-Seriously expression when he admitted this.)

The point was, though Gwaine hadn't had the chance to actually hold a conversation longer than accepting a bowl of stew from the servant last night, he had overheard the boy and his guardian talking quietly just a short while later, after Gaius had been asked to check the strange elderly lady - Hilda wasn't it? - over. Frankly Gwaine thought she was a bit strange anyway, but then Gaius and Merlin had been talking in low voices about medical inaccuracies (or something like that. Those two were the physicians here; it wasn't like Gwaine needed to understand stuff like that) and it coincided with the bad feeling Merlin had been muttering about during the journey.

Everyone had, of course, ignored him. Then he'd helped Mithian off her horse, gone off with Gaius to get water, and came back looking frustrated and troubled, casting odd glances over at the princess and her elderly companion.

Come morning, Mithian had approached him hesitatingly and Gwaine watched them talk for a second out of the corner of his eye, amused. Merlin kindly went back off to the stream to get her water, and Gwaine thought nothing more of it until Mithian approached him with worry a short moment later and asked is he'd seen Hilda. Gwaine shook his head.

"Can't say I have," he replied good-naturedly, giving her a reassuring smile because the poor girl had been looking devastated whenever she thought people weren't glancing her way.

Her expression just increased in concern and she looked around as though the lady would just pop out of somewhere as she wandered away from him, into the ruins they had chosen to stay in last night. Gwaine watched her go, frowning slightly. There was certainly something off about the entire thing, but then again, the entire thing was off because it was about kidnap and exhaustion and underlying suspicion.

But before Gwaine could consider anything any further, Arthur called from somewhere just outside the ruins.

"Finish packing up. We're heading out."

Gwaine resisted rolling his eyes at the king's This-Is-My-Important-Voice seriousness but reminded himself that it wasn't just their friend group here - there were other knights too, and also their guests, so to speak. But then he then started muttering names as if taking a register, and Gwaine did roll his eyes. Until he got to Merlin.

When Leon, whose shoulders Gwaine could just about see over a ruined wall and so assumed was standing with Arthur, shrugged in response to having seen the servant, Arthur sighed in an annoyed fashion and called out, slightly louder, "Merlin." As though expecting the man to just run up and call him a prat or something.

To be honest, Gwaine was expecting something of the sort as well. And if he hadn't been looking in the vague direction of the princess, he would have missed her terrified expression and the barely audible, "Well, I--"

But she didn't get to finish, or even start, because there was another voice that made Mithian look even more scared, if that was possible.

"Here. He's here."

And that was definitely concerning, because that was certainly not Merlin replying, and that could only mean trouble.

Gwaine gave a last grim glance towards Mithian, who actually accidently met his eyes with fear, before he was rushing out of the ruins, barely noting Gaius following with an equally concerned expression, stopping just outside the ruins as Gwaine carried on. But apparently the only other person who was bothered was Percival, since he was already heading out to the surrounding forest. Gwaine hurried to catch up with the big knight, who glanced briefly at him, mouth pursed in a straight line. Maybe Gwaine hadn't been the only one to notice something amiss.

They didn't speak as they strode quickly towards where the call had come from. It was almost to the river when they saw someone clad in a black cloak, and Gwaine almost drew his sword before the figure turned around. It was Hilda, but that wasn't particularly reassuring. Even less reassuring was Merlin, on the ground next to her.

Now, Gwaine wasn't an unreasonable man. But frankly he considered anyone, even an old woman, who was standing next to his best friend who was unconscious and clearly hurt, something of a suspect in the situation. And that wasn't an unfair assumption to make.

Lucky Percival was there because Gwaine had a habit of taking matters into his own hands where his friends were concerned, but he didn't manage to do more than glare at the old woman, who stared back at him with almost something like resentment or anger in her eyes before it faded into a neutral expression, and Percival quickly approached Merlin and regarded him for a second before reaching down and hoisting the boy over his shoulder. He turned and barely gave Hilda a glance before nodding to Gwaine, expression grim.

They walked back briskly, again without words, with Hilda trailing behind them. Gwaine led the way, refusing to glance behind him at their precious bundle. Merlin was never still and never quiet, and when both those things happened at once, it was more than concerning.

Gaius was waiting outside the ruins and straightened up as the knights approached. Gwaine saw fear and weariness in the old man's eyes as he gave him a short nod and continued leading Percival into the ruins, heading for a rolled out blanket, knowing Gaius would follow them and be ready to treat his ward.

Gwaine wasn't worried about that particularly. Merlin always bounced back.

(Even that time they'd accidently left him behind in those caves. Gwaine still felt awful about that. And it might be a slight reason why he'd been sort of slightly avoiding Merlin since.)

He gently caught Merlin as Percival lowered him down, easing him to lay out on the blanket, paying attention to Gaius as the physician immediately leaned in to put a hand to Merlin's head where blood matted with dark hair, barely listening as Percival spoke up for the first time in response to Arthur's obvious question.

He also resisting snorting in disbelief when 'Hilda' suggested Merlin had fallen down by the river.

Yes, the boy was clumsy, of course he was. It was practically one of his charms, and even if you didn't witness it yourself somehow, Arthur would be more than willing to start complaining about everything the servant dropped or tripped over, including scaring prey during hunting trips, and walking into things occasionally, among other accidents. But he wasn't falling over by the river and smacking his head on a rock clumsy. Not to mention he wasn't wet at all. And had been found next to a tree. With a hand at his throat.

Not only did something not add up this time - absolutely none of it added up.

Still, at Gaius' usually steady words that it was just a head wound and Merlin should be fine, Gwaine let himself relax a small bit. But he didn't look up, frowning and focused on Merlin's pale face as he breathed steadily, and allowed that to comfort him, until Arthur addressed him directly.

He looked up obediently at the same time as Gaius focused back on Merlin, which was an unplanned good trade.

Even as Arthur ordered him to stay with the two - frankly Gwaine had been going to anyway, king's command or no - Gwaine took in Percival's worried expression, Hilda's slight smirk, and behind her, Mithian's ghost-white face, the princess looking terrified and guilty.

Orders given, the rest of the knights made to move out, several looking slightly troubled. Merlin was well-known at this point (how long had the boy been in Camelot? Longer than Gwaine, obviously; at least 6 years, from various implications in various conversations), even outside their round table circle.

But no one made a fuss. And soon, they were all ready to go.

Mithian had approached just as Gaius murmured to Gwaine to fetch his kit, and Gwaine agreed and carefully shifted, since he had positioned Merlin to lean on him slightly, and glanced up as the princess stepped towards them, looking incredibly apologetic. She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, her companion appeared behind her and took her arm, making her jump.

"We're going," Hilda said in a low voice, almost a growl, and Mithian glanced uselessly at Merlin again before following without a word.

Gwaine glowered as he fetched Gaius' kit and gave it to him, and carefully removed his cape from under Merlin's head at the physician's quiet request. Frankly, the man was being very quiet about the whole thing, Gwaine thought as he picked up a stick for the fire and scowled at it. Above him he could hear the rumble of the rest of the party walking away as he passed by Merlin, glancing at him before looking away when Gaius - already sat by his ward with medical kit open beside him and applying something (honey?) to the cut after cleaning it - looked up with what Gwaine was sure would be a knowing expression. 

He let Gaius work in peace, and generally kept away because if he stared at Merlin like this for too long he would probably remember it more later when Merlin would be absolutely fine, and thinking about stuff like that was probably a path to being angsty and noble, and Gwaine certainly wasn't into that.

(He'd end up looking like Sir Leon if he did that enough, and God forbid he resemble the serious man at all.)

So Gwaine waited, mostly patiently. Or, well, paced a lot. And glanced over a fair bit. And kept the fire Gaius had requested next to Merlin burning, to hopefully keep him warm. Which meant going off into the woods and scowling at sticks some more.

Alright, so maybe Gwaine wasn't doing a great job of not worrying or thinking or being worried and thinking about being worried.

But he felt a little inclined to that worry when an hour since the others had left was coming up, and Merlin hadn't made a move at all, and Gaius was sitting next to him just staring after having checked him over thoroughly despite the only injury being on his head, and apparently working hard at keeping his expression carefully blank if the naked worry in his eyes was anything to go by.

So, eventually, Gwaine gave up pacing and glaring at twigs, and slightly reluctantly approached because he would really like Merlin to wake up and, maybe, make a fuss that Arthur had gone on without him.

Which was another point. The boy never wore armour (not for lack of trying on the knights' part, in their defence) but still managed to hardly ever get hurt. Which made situations like this even more, in Gwaine's opinion, angsty and noble. Which, as previously stated, he hated thinking about. And now he really wanted Merlin to get up and roll his eyes at their worry like he always did when bandits never seemed to touch him but one or two of the knights - mainly Lancelot before, well, the thing - would insist on making sure anyway. Often under Arthur's whispered orders because obviously the world would collapse if the king showed any actual unwarranted concern towards his servant.

"He should have come round by now," Gwaine said with the air of someone who liked to say what they thought outright, crouching a little and eyeing the still form in front of them.

Gaius finally broke off his stare and almost looked around at Gwaine but ended up not taking his eyes off his charge. "It's unusual, certainly," he said gravely. Gwaine's observing skills apparently paid off since the physician's usually steady voice betrayed his deep concern.

And not only was he agreeing with Gwaine (whom he had once asked to keep his 'medical opinions' to himself), and also sounding clearly worried - even more so than usual, considering the trouble Merlin got himself in half the time - he wasn't doing anything despite his worry, which was frankly rather alarming. And meant likely there wasn't anything to do.

"Just a blow to the head, you say?" Gwaine tried to prompt, squinting at Merlin. Gaius still didn't look at him. 

"There's nothing to suggest anything more," he replied. Gwaine straightened up, frustrated, and almost missed Gaius adding lowly, "On the outside, at least."

Gwaine narrowed his eyes. "So there might be something... else wrong?" He made sure not to emphasise the 'else' as an implication, knowing it would just scare the man off, especially where his ward was concerned, but he couldn't help the hesitation.

"Possibly," Gaius said slowly.

"Something... not normal?"

Gaius remained quiet, but his shoulders were suddenly stiff and set. Gwaine was a knight, he recognised a defensive posture when he saw one. But he could acknowledge Gaius' fear for Merlin; if the boy was specifically special, as Gwaine had seen, then he was barking mad to live in a place like Camelot. But, to be fair, he was slightly mental also from what Gwaine had seen. In a good way. A much too good way.

When it was clear the physician wasn't going to say anything more, particularly nothing incriminating, Gwaine sighed and crouched down again, eyes fixed on Merlin. He was still breathing steadily, but something felt off.

"Well, Merlin's special, isn't he," Gwaine said casually, deciding as ever that he couldn't be bothered to allude to things when they could be said outright.

Gaius seemed to consider his answer. "He is to me," he said quietly. And, even if Gwaine hadn't witnessed and helped with the whole Gaius being kidnapped and Merlin abandoning everything and everyone possible apart from Gwaine who insisted on helping, he would have already known their bond.

"I know," he said gently, "But I mean. Particularly special."

There was a silence. Gwaine got the impression Gaius was doing some quick thinking, and this was not the first - nor would it be the last - that the physician had to come up with something specific to protect the precious boy under his care.

So, "I won't say anything. I won't even imply anything," Gwaine said quietly, hoping that was reassurement enough.

"About what?" Was the much too polite response.

"Exactly." Gwaine grinned, but Gaius still didn't look at him, and he hadn't really relaxed much. Instead of replying again, he leaned forward and rubbed Merlin's hand silently, probably testing his temperature.

"He's getting cold, you'd better get some more firewood."

See. Gwaine was observant.

He straightened up, eyeing Merlin's stiff form once more. "Alright." But before he turned to leave, he had one more innocent implication to make. "Are you going to help him?" Gwaine asked, putting something behind his words.

Finally, Gaius looked at him. Barely a glance, but there was something so fierce in the old man's eyes. "I'm going to try," he said.

That's what he had been waiting for. Gwaine just nodded, and left the ruin; left the two to their secrets. In a place that would kill a golden light faster than it could flash, secrets were all that they had as an illusion of safety. And Gwaine owed them that illusion.

So he left, and found some sticks, and was pleased but not surprised when Merlin was completely back to normal upon his return.

**Author's Note:**

> ooof. this took hours and it's 4am and i'm mad abt blanket placement bc I had 5.04 on in the background bc -details- but i'm tired so this'll do and i'm not even sure what my original idea was any more but this is fine so here take it.  
> I just,, love Gwaine and everyone who is protecting Merlin,,,


End file.
